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Is it true that the USS Monitor defeated the Merrimack at Hampton Roads in the Civil War's first battle of the ironclads?
During the US Civil War, the first sea battle in history between two ironclads happened at Hampton Roads. on March 9, 1862. The Union ironclad was the USS Monitor, and the Southern ironclad was the CSS Virginia. The Virginia had been the USS Merrimack, but it was half scuttled at Norfolk and rebuilt as a Southern ironclad. Technically the battle was a draw. With that said, the US navy saw that cannon fire from the Virginia made serious dents in parts of the Monitor and feared another battle. That never happened as the Virginia was scuttled by the South to prevent it from falling into Union hands. Many ironclads based on the Monitor model were built by the Union.
Who won the battle between the Virginia and the Monitor?
The battle marked the death knell for wooden ships in the naval services of the world.The epic battle between the ironclad CSS Virginia (formerly the steam frigate USS Merrimack) and the USS Monitor made history not simply because ironclads were involved, but rather because it was the first engagement between two ironclads. The outcome of the battle is generally considered to have been a draw, although Monitor was firing solid shot throughout and designer John Ericsson was reportedly furious that Monitorhad not been supplied with explosive shells, which he was sure would have sunk Virginia had they been employed by firing at Virginia’s waterline. As it was, Monitor probably did more overall damage to Virginia. Monitor had heavier guns and cracked Virginia’s armor in several places, whereas Monitor suffered only dents, literally.Ironclad warships were not new. The first ironclad ship of the line was the French La Gloire (1859), which looked like any other “broadside” warship of the period except that she was armored with wrought iron plates. The U.S. Navy had several lightly armored gunboats at the start of the Civil War, and these did great service in the rivers and bays of the South, running past heavily gunned forts which could do little to stop them because the solid shot of the guns bounced off their sloped armor.When the Civil War started in 1861, the steam frigate USS Merrimack was laid up at Gosport (now Norfolk) Naval Base in Virginia needing her boilers serviced. The Federals were ordered to destroy everything and abandon the base, but in their haste to destroy the Merrimack they only burned her to the waterline, when she sank and put out the fire. The Confederates raised the hulk, repaired the boilers, renamed her CSS Virginia and set about creating a true juggernaut of an ironclad to try to break the Federal blockade at the mouth of the James and Elizabeth rivers in what is called Hampton Roads.The Confederates built her as a ram, which was an obsolete technology that was coming back into vogue. Some of her armor was railway rails laid over thick oak timbers. She was so heavy and drew so much water that her top speed with her rickety boilers was just over 4 knots. She resembled a floating barn roof because her fore and after decks were almost awash. She was always in danger of going aground because of her deep draught, and because she was so underpowered she was nearly impossible to turn. But she mounted ten powerful guns, including 7-inch rifles bow and stern, and she had that ram which could easily sink any wooden warship even without the use of her firepower. Her sloped sides made solid shot simply bounce off her 4-inch armor. The Federals in their wooden ships had every reason to fear this behemoth, but at the same time it was no secret that the Confederates were building her, and president Lincoln called for designs for an ironclad of his own.The man who came forward with the winning design was a Swedish American inventor named John Ericsson. His ship was unique. USS Monitor could be called a semi-submersible. She had only 14-inches of freeboard. Her decks were almost completely bare of everything except a tiny pilothouse forward (really just an armored viewport for the captain standing on the deck below), a short funnel for her steam engine, and her most distinctive feature, a revolving turret amidships housing two powerful 11-inch smoothbore Dahlgren guns. Because the deck was essentially bare the guns could be fired in virtually any direction without turning the whole ship, and because she was so low in the water there was virtually nothing for an enemy to shoot at except the turret. If you didn’t consider seaworthiness (which was nil), it was a marvelous design.Despite a rushed building schedule, Monitor was late arriving in Hampton Roads. The day before Monitor's arrival, Virginia had already sortied on March 8, 1862, and despite her ponderous speed she had managed to sink or destroy two Federal wooden warships and damage a third before retiring, herself somewhat damaged but not seriously.The next morning, March 9, 1962, Virginia again sortied to finish off the damaged Federal warship but was met by the USS Monitor, often described as a “cheesebox on a raft” because of her bizarre look. The two ships opened fire on each other and slugged it out for hours, but neither was able to do significant damage to the other. Virginia had broken off part of her ram in sinking the USS Cumberland the day before, and that put her at something of a disadvantage against Monitor which, had Virginia been able to ram, might have sunk her. But the probability of Virginia getting into position to ram Monitor would have been low anyway, since Monitor was lighter and more nimble. The fact is that Monitor literally ran rings around the slow, cumbersome Virginia. Despite this, Monitor was only able to crack or dislodge some of Virginia’s armor plates, while herself suffering only dents to the turret. Monitor was equipped with shutters to protect the gunners during reloading, but they quickly realized that it was simpler and faster to just revolve the turret away from the enemy, reload, then revolve the turret back and fire.The noise within both warships must have been literally deafening. Finally a near miss at the pilothouse injured the eyes of the captain of the Monitor, which withdrew, but the Virginia had also had enough and withdrew as well. The epic battle was over in a draw. Neither ship ever fought another ship again. Virginia had to be destroyed when events on land forced the evacuation of Norfolk and her draught was too deep for her to flee, and Monitor sank off Cape Hatteras while being towed in a storm. Her low freeboard was her undoing.The battle proved, of course, that wooden warships were instantly obsolete, and thereafter naval architects turned their attention to bigger and better ironclads, which eventually evolved into battleships, the heyday of which ended nearly a century later in WW2 when it was shown that even the biggest and most powerful battleships were no match for tiny airplanes equipped with armor piercing bombs and torpedoes. The Japanese Imperial Navy's Mushashi and Yamato, with their incredible 18-inch guns and thick armor, were sunk within months of each other by American aircraft in 1944 and 1945. Today’s modern missile cruisers and destroyers do not even bother with armor, except for a little Kevlar here and there as protection against flying splinters, relying instead on anti-ship missile and torpedo defense systems. No modern ship can outrun a plane, missile or torpedo, and heavy armor just slows a ship down and makes her less maneuverable. The day of the ironclad is over.
What did samurais do for training?
The training of a Japanese Samurai, began at the age of 5, at which point a man would give his son, to the care of his brother, the boy's uncle. The Japanese frowned on fathers training their own sons because, as all fathers love their boys, the fear was that dad was going to be too soft, be too easy on them, and Samurai training was very much life or death, they were training to be a soldier. Upon arriving at his uncle's house, the boy would work as a servant for about 3 years, before any formal sword instruction began. In addition to sword instruction, they were taught various forms of Buddhist meditation, given a classical Chinese education which was common of upper class feudal era Japanese, and upon hitting puberty, more rigorous training would begin. The core of the physical side of Samurai training, lay in Sumo; in fact the reason Sumo is so revered in Japan, is because Sumo is the FOUNDATION, for the training of a Samurai. Before you do your family's style of Jiu Jitsu, as all Samurai families had their own style, or your clan's, before learning the other Samurai weapons, the various staves and spears, the bow and arrow, and learning the art of Yabusame or "horse archery," you learned Sumo. If a boy could not survive Sumo training, he could face being disowned by his own father. Why the harshness? Feudal era Japanese Samurai believed, if you can not survive a Sumo stable, you will not survive in battle. All Samurai, regardless of build, had to learn Sumo. Now the whole issue with being fat, is a relatively recent phenomenon; as it became more and more a sport, it began favoring men whose bodies were more heavy set. Thus you began seeing less "fat but muscular" men, and more "fat and strong" types as the years passed. The general build of a Samurai was "fat but muscular." That is, that type of men with arms like bodybuilders, but bellies like a sack of potatoes. Of course Japanese swordsmen ran the gamut of body types; what mattered most was whether or not a boy was strong enough to survive the training, not how he looked, and, what can I say, some dudes are tougher and stronger than they look. Never judge a book by its cover and all that. Upon completing Sumo, a Samurai boy would learn his clan's style of Jiu Jitsu. Modern Judo, is in fact an amalgam of several styles, that is, Judo is composed of techniques which Dr. Jigoro Kano, the sport's creator, felt were the most scientifically relevant. Dr. Kano hand picked Jiu Jitsu techniques which he felt were the simplest and easiest to learn, and most applicable to how the laws of physics affected the human body, as well as their efficiency. In other words hundreds of Jiu Jitsu styles contributed a move or two to Judo, that is why the art is so comprehensive in terms of grappling. Obviously through all this, sword practice would continue. Upon completing the training, and surviving the often harsh strength building methods, by now having reached manhood, the boy was no longer a boy but a Samurai. If you were asking regarding conditioning, and strength building, it was mostly the stuff they now do at Sumo stables. In order to get strong, what Samurai used to do, was lift logs over their shoulders, and then run uphill with them, the distance I think roughly 5 miles. According to legend, one particular Samurai did an uphill jog with a 900 lb log over his shoulders. Miyamoto Musashi, generally reccomended, simply, just living in the wilderness, and practicing your art. Nothing fancy, nothing secret; just live in the wild, and practice. The wilderness itself, according to the Yamabushi, or Japanese hermits, will make you strong. Simply living and surviving there is enough for overall "conditioning." The idea that the Samurai did not do strength building exercises is a myth; truth is they did, their favorite method was playing around with large logs. Bear hugging them, lifting them over their shoulders and running with them, basically a lot of the stuff, very often, you see some MMA guys do today. Now where there is a peculiar difference however, is that in the Sumo stable, they felt your strength training was not complete until you were strong enough to uproot a tree with a bear hug. If you trained to become that strong, THEN you truly earned the title of "Yokozuna." A fully trained Sumo master, had to be able to do two things; uproot a tree with a shoulder charge, that is keep hitting with your shoulder, American Football style, an NFL type charge, until you knock it down. The other thing is bear hug and uproot it. Incredible? Unbelievable? Hey you asked man; I swear, I am not making this up. For what its worth, I think in some Japanese museums, they have large tree trunks on display with grooves, roughly the same size as a human shoulder. That is trees with marks, dents on the trunk, put there by shoulders. Common sense of course demands that hopefully they were wearing some sort of armor..... I mean, hitting a tree trunk bare chested, you're gonna skin yourself. Its not entirely impossible though, because in eras past, people used to wear clothing with much heavier and thicker fabric. If your clothes tore, you couldn't just go to the store and get new threads; you were gonna get a bit breezy if your clothes were made from easily torn fabrics, or not thick enough. Provided they had the sense to wear protective padding hey, those men were pretty stocky, so, its possible.
How did native Americans built bows and arrows?
Bows were not the same throughout the Americas and different tribes made bows in their own traditional way.Let's take three examples to illustrate the point: the Algonkin (Algonquin) of Canada, the Crows of Montana and the Wai Wai of Guyana and northern Brazil:The Algonquin tribe made their bows of hickory wood, from 52 to 60 inches long and only about 1 inch wide, often with faces carved at the tips of the bow limbs. They hunted and fought on foot. Strings were made of plant fibre (probably nettle or"Indian hemp").The Crows of the Great plains made much shorter bows for hunting and warfare on horseback. Some were of wood such as ash, about 46 inches long and fitted with a string of twisted sinew. Other bows were painstakingly made from sections of mountain sheep horn or elk horn glued to a wood core and wrapped with sinew.The Wai Wai hunters and warriors made their bows of local hardwoods, some up to 12 feet long with arrows 6 feet long, again for use only on foot. Even a small bow could be 7 to 9 feet long. Scientific study of archery shows that most of the potential power in such a set is lost because human arms can not draw the bow to its full potential, but nevertheless this is the traditional method among these people. Curare poison was used on arrow points.
What jobs did a soldier do in a medieval castle?
* Almoners: ensured the poor received alms. * Atilliator: skilled castle worker who made crossbows. * Baliff: in charge of allotting jobs to the peasants, building repair, and repair of tools used by the peasants. * Barber: someone who cut hair. Also served as dentists, surgeons and blood-letters. * Blacksmith: forged and sharpened tools and weapons, beat out dents in armor, made hinges for doors, and window grills. Also referred to as Smiths. * Bottler: in charge of the buttery or bottlery. * Butler: cared for the cellar and was in charge of large butts and little butts (bottles) of wine and beer. Under him a staff of people might consist of brewers, tapsters, cellarers, dispensers, cupbearers and dapifer. * Carder: someone who brushed cloth during its manufacture. * Carpenter: built flooring, roofing, siege engines, furniture, panelling for rooms, and scaffoling for building. * Carters: workmen who brought wood and stone to the site of a castle under construction. * Castellan: resident owner or person in charge of a castle (custodian). * Chamberlain: responsible for the great chamber and for the personal finances of the castellan. * Chaplain: provided spirtual welfare for laborers and the castle garrison. The duties might also include supervising building operations, clerk, and keeping accounts. He also tended to the chapel. * Clerk: a person who checked material costs, wages, and kept accounts. * Constable: a person who took care (the governor or warden) of a castle in the absence of the owner. This was sometimes bestowed upon a great baron as an honor and some royal castles had hereditary constables. * Cook: roasted, broiled, and baked food in the fireplaces and ovens. * Cottars: the lowest of the peasantry. Worked as swine-herds, prison guards, and did odd jobs. * Ditcher: worker who dug moats, vaults, foundations and mines. * Dyer: someone who dyed cloth in huge heated vats during its manufacture. * Ewerer: worker who brought and heated water for the nobles. * Falconer: highly skilled expert responsible for the care and training of hawks for the sport of falconry. * Fuller:worker who shrinks & thickens cloth fibers through wetting & beating the material. * Glaziers: a person who cut and shaped glass. * Gong Farmer: a latrine pit emptier. * Hayward: someone who tended the hedges. * Herald:knights assistant and an expert advisor on heraldry. * Keeper of the Wardrobe: in charge of the tailors and laundress. * Knight: a professional soldier. This was achieved only after long and arduous training which began in infancy. * Laird:minor baron or small landlord. * Marshal: officer in charge of a household's horses, carts, wagons, and containers. His staff included farriers, grooms, carters, smiths and clerks. He also oversaw the transporting of goods. * Master Mason:responsible for the designing and overseeing the building of a structure. * Messengers: servants of the lord who carried receipts, letters, and commodities. * Miner: skilled professional who dug tunnels for the purpose of undermining a castle. * Minstrels: part of of the castle staff who provided entertainment in the form of singing and playing musical instruments. * Porter: took care of the doors (janitor), particularly the main entrance. Responsible for the guardrooms. The person also insured that no one entered or left the castle withour permission. Also known as the door-ward. * Reeve: supervised the work on lord's property. He checked that everyone began and stopped work on time, and insured nothing was stolen. Senior officer of a borough. * Sapper: an unskilled person who dug a mine or approach tunnel. * Scullions: responsible for washing and cleaning in the kitchen. * Shearmen: a person who trimmed the cloth during its manufacture. * Shoemaker: a craftsman who made shoes. Known also as Cordwainers. * Spinster: a name given to a woman who earned her living spinning yarn. Later this was expanded and any unmarried woman was called a spinster. * Steward: took care of the estate and domestic administration. Supervised the household and events in the great hall. Also referred to as a Seneschal. * Squire:attained at the age of 14 while training as a knight. He would be assigned to a knight to carry and care for the weapons and horse. * Watchmen: an official at the castle responsible for security. Assited by lookouts (the garrison). * Weaver:someone who cleaned and compacted cloth, in association with the Walker and Fuller. * Woodworkers: tradesmen called Board-hewers who worked in the forest, producing joists
